Brighton and Hove voters offered a chance to spend £360m

Would you like to spend £360 million? There is a catch. The money has to be spent in Brighton and Hove on council services.

Anyone who wants to try to work out the council’s budget and council tax for next year themselves is invited to an event organised by an independent local group.

Demsoc Brighton and Hove has set up three budget discussion events to give local people a chance to quiz senior council finance staff.

They will also be able to see where the money comes from and where it goes – and have a chance to work out where cuts might be made in a thought-provoking game.

The first events are today with the third taking place on Monday evening (14 November).

Today’s events are at St Richard’s Community Centre in Egmont Road on the Knoll estate from 10am to 12.30pm and Patcham Junior School in Ladies Mile Road from 2pm.

The event on Monday is at Brighton Junction in Isetta Square, New England Street, from 7.30pm to 9.30pm.

The results will be fed back to senior staff at Brighton and Hove City Council as they wrestle with important decisions about the £362 million.

Demsoc, which organised City Camp earlier this year, said: “This game has been commissioned by the council and we’ll be sending the results directly to the director of finance.

“The final decision is, obviously, down to the elected councillors but the report from the event will be an important piece of evidence on what people think when they are put in the council’s shoes.”